Seaman boys basketball come up short against Olathe North

Eagles uses inside advantage to rout Vikings, 75-42

OLATHE — The Seaman Vikings had a tall task ahead of them Wednesday night at Olathe North.

For starters, the Vikings were still without 6-foot-4 guard Joe Miller, and their tallest post player is about 6-2. So facing an Eagles squad that boasts seven players 6-2 and above, including forward Mason Hughes at 6-8, the Vikings were at a significant disadvantage down low. And the Eagles made them pay, beating the Vikings, 75-42.

“They’ve got an outstanding team, and they’re having a great season,” Vikings coach Craig Cox said of the Eagles. “You look at them, and they’ve got all the pieces, and they are well coached, and play well together, and it makes it extremely difficult.”

The root of the problem, of course, was Hughes, who finished with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks in three quarters. But Hughes had plenty of help as well, notably from Josh Moore (6-5), who finished with nine points, and Tajh Brown (6-4), who finished with 13 points off the bench. The trio controlled the glass and the paint, especially early.

“Being undersized we have to do a better job of blocking out,” Cox said. “They just got way too many offensive rebounds, and that was what led to the huge lead in the first quarter for them.”

The Vikings (4-8) trailed 4-2 after a bucket from Reid Fehr two minutes in, but that was as close as they would get as the Eagles (10-3) closed the period on an 18-4 run, highlighted by a fade away 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Eagles also canned a 3-pointer to close out the half and went to the locker room with a 40-16 lead.

In the third, the Vikings showed some life as Chase Bauer scored five straight, and Hunter Poort and Ryan Zeferjahn each hit treys, but the Eagles led by 30 at the end of the quarter.

“We talked about how we needed to rebound better, and I thought our guys battled and tried,” Cox said. “I thought they gave effort on the boards, but we needed to run our offense better. We settled for just getting out of the offense, and it didn’t work out well for us.”

Cox said he was hopeful Miller would return from an ankle injury Friday.

“He’s having a hard time recovering the next day, and with us playing Wednesday and Friday … if he went today he probably wouldn’t play Friday,” Cox said. “So we’re hoping with a couple more days of rest that will allow him to go.”

Reid Morgart led the Vikings with 10 points, while Josiah Hazim added eight.